Shaded Sentinels Vol 1
by Evi1An9e1
Summary: A story about a guilds rise from almost disastrous ends to glorified status and of one characters journey and sacrifices along the way to freeing a trapped society.


The kobold's axe glanced off Kaito's shield and was sent rebounding off thanks to his newly obtained sword skill. Kaito followed up with a riposte sword skill and drove his blade through the kobold's abdomen, the telltale explosion of data signified that it had been defeated. Kaito sheathed his sword and continued his trek to the next village. He had been trapped in Sword Art Online for a week now and hoped to group up with some other players to clear the boss.

"Well that's another level up, which puts me up to fourteen. One handed sword skill should be high enough now for a new move."

Kaito remembered when it all started, Akihiko's announcement that if they died here in Aincrad they would die in the real world, when he had joined his guild and when they had crumbled during a boss fight. Kaito had sworn to play solo after that even though he had inherited the title of guild leader for the Shaded Sentinels, which only he was now part of. Instead of disbanding the guild he decided to keep it maintained and functional just in case.

Kaito stepped into the village on floor 6 to restock and refit his equipment. He got a room at the inn and ate a quick meal before heading upstairs for some rest, if you could even call it that. Kaito wondered what happened to his body. He knew that the nerve gear hadn't been removed otherwise he'd be dead so he knew that wasn't the case. Kaito pulled up his menu and started unequipping gear. He then moved over to his skills menu to check for new sword skills. Just as he thought, a new skill, the four angle horizontal slash, lucrative move and risky but effective if pulled off right. He closed his menu and lay down to sleep.

Kaito woke in the morning and put his gear back on. A ping caught his attention; it was a message from a player he didn't know. Against his better judgment he opened the message to be greeted by a familiar voice.

"Hey Kaito, it's me Ikitaki from school, I got your information from a guy who had grouped with you for a boss fight. How you been? I'd like to meet up with you. Five more of our classmates are here as well. I formed a group with them so we could stay alive and I heard that your guild has had some trouble, sorry to hear that. If you're recruiting count us in. We should at least talk; meet me in floor 5's village. Hope to see you soon."

Kaito sat on the bed for what seemed like hours before finally heading downstairs, paying his tab and heading outside. He pulled out a teleport crystal and pondered on if this was a good idea. His conscience now grabbed hold and he uttered the town's name on floor 5.

He arrived to the bustling streets, a lot of players hadn't left this area yet so it was normally busy. The assault team hadn't pushed further than floor 15 or so, no point in moving forward too much yet.

"Kaito! Hey over here man!" It was the voice from the message, it was Ikitaki. He came towards Kaito clad in some medium armor and wielding a halberd. Five more people followed behind; a mace wielder with a shield, a lancer, 2 swordsman and a dagger wielder, all from Kaito's school, all from the same class.

For the first time since this started Kaito was ecstatic to see familiar faces. The group greeted each other and managed to share a few laughs. After a few minutes they made their way towards the inn to discuss what would come next. Several hours went by and finally they had convinced Kaito to invite them into the Sentinels. They had their minds set on making it onto the assault team once they reached level 30. They spent the day regaling each other with tales from the game and by the time they realized the time it was late. Kaito spotted them the money for a room and headed up to his.

He lay on his bed for a while without sleeping. Ikitaki had risked his life and 5 others to find him, Kaito felt obligated now to keep them alive and he would do his best to do so. First thing in the morning he would move them up a few floors and power level them to catch up to his level and he would finally begin open recruitment for the Shaded Sentinels, but that was tomorrow, for now he was finally glad to have friends again. He rolled over onto his side and slowly slipped into sleep with a smile on his face.


End file.
